Audio Video News

Home theaters are becoming ever more affordable according to new data just released by the <A HREF="http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A> (CEMA). In 1997, dollar sales of home-theater products reached $8.2 billion---a slight drop from the $8.3 billion generated in the previous year---but many of the essential components of home-theater systems sold more units than ever before. Overall unit sales of home-theater products rose 5%.

Some people like their home theater components big and imposing. Some like them small and cute. For the latter demographic, Philips has introduced the CinemaOne. Very round and very cute, the CinemaOne contains a CD/DVD player, iPod dock, USB...

The editors of Home Theater magazine have announced the winners of the 2007 RAVE Awards (Recognition of Audio and Video Excellence). Open to all manufacturers, the RAVE Awards, now in its fifth year, recognize excellence in the manufacturing of superior audio and video components that have been reviewed and tested by the Home Theater staff and respected contributors over a 12-month period.

Are stratospheric equipment prices bumming you out? Onkyo has something guaranteed to cheer you up: a new home theater receiver with multiple inputs, Dolby and DTS surround processing, five channels of high-current power, and an incredibly low price. How low? Try $330.

Home-theater equipment continues to be one of the fastest-selling segments of the consumer electronics market, according to the most recent figures from the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/">Consumer Electronics Association</A>. How good is it? Try $2 billion in factory-to-dealer sales of video equipment in the first quarter of this year. That's a 20% increase over the first three months of 1999, according to the May 31 report. The figure is even more astounding in light of 1999's growth, in which home theater revenues increased by 11% over 1998's totals.

Plasma, plasma, on the wall, who's the fairest speaker of them all? ("Fairest", of course, meaning "least visibly obnoxious while sitting next to one of those sleek, sexy, and usually silver-finish flat-panel TVs" with added elements of "gee, it'd be nice if it were easy to install - like maybe if the L, C, and R speakers were all one unit".) Boston Acoustics claims to have the answer with the new P400 slim theater speaker, a unique compound speaker unit that incorporates discrete left, center, and right front speakers in a single, thin chassis that's "designed to perfectly complement a 42-inch plasma or LCD television or monitor, a DLP rear-projection console, or a traditional screen."

Yes, Boston Acoustics knows all you plasma lovers out there hate speakers - or at least hate to look at speakers. (It's truly a love/hate relationship. You love to listen to good sound, but you hate to look at the speakers that are necessary to create it. My advice is that you should seek professional help about this, you know.)